The song had the band's Hillary Scott pleading: "It's a quarter after 1, I'm a little drunk, and I need you now. Said I wouldn't call, but I lost all control, and I need you now."

That the band's latest single, "Just a Kiss," is the delicate, almost prudish antithesis to that sensual hit isn't lost on Scott.

" 'Just a Kiss' was subject matter than I'm a firm believer in," Scott said recently of the song, which holds the action back to "just a kiss" because "I don't wanna mess this thing up. I don't wanna push too far."

"When you know that you've met someone really special, for whatever reason, there's something in you that pumps the brakes a little bit. And it's an innocent way that will help nurture and grow this relationship in a beautiful way."

Scott has been thinking about love quite a bit since she started dating then Love and Theft drummer Chris Tyrrell in 2010, and the two were married last month — putting Scott in an enviable, contented mind-set. We talked with Scott about her nuptials, her music and her well- being earlier this week in advance of her band's date at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday.

Q: So the wedding is over, and now you have the biggest tour of your career. How are you doing?

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A: Things are in such a beautiful place. I have to be honest, having the stress off of planning a wedding — we're having a ball. It's one of those things where we're breathing a little bit easier. We're excited to be married. Chris plays drums with us. We're on the road together with our puppy. It's a traveling family. And now we can focus on the show.

A: I was so stressed about wedding planning, and sometimes it would creep into the show. Thank God we're not doing that anymore.

Q: And now, a giant tour. Are you more excited or nervous?

A: I'm more excited. The nerves come into play on live television, the big awards shows and 'Saturday Night Live' — that was one of the most nervous times I've ever experienced. But more than anything, we're excited. When we saw how well tickets were selling, the outpouring of the fans spending their hard-earned money to see us, we couldn't believe it.

Q: Has the band's growth felt natural from your end?

A: It has felt natural. I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel like we've moved really fast, and we're so thankful for that. But it felt very natural, and we wanted to make sure that making the jump from theaters to civic center to arenas was right because it's a huge investment. There's so much that goes into it. You quadruple, if not times-ten, the personnel on the road.

Q: You all wrote "Need You Now" and the new "Dancin' Away With My Heart" with songwriter Josh Kear. It seems like that's a special relationship for you all.

A: We have a great, great relationship with Josh. I always feel like in a lot of ways, especially with 'Need You Now' and the Grammys, that you bond together whenever you experience something like that. He's the honorary fourth member. We click with him so much. He's so good with lyrics and melodies, and it really gels well with what we naturally bring to the table. We've written three or four songs with him already, starting to stockpile songs for the next album, and we don't ever see that relationship coming to an end.

Q: That relationship of songwriter and artist is almost unique to country music. It exists in other genres, but it's not as prevalent, wouldn't you say?

A: I think that's one of the things about this genre that makes it interesting. The writing process is really fun, and the three of us have sat down and written songs ourselves that we're proud of and believe in. But we also know our strengths and weaknesses, and there are songwriters all over Nashville, who are in our backyard because we all live there, and we'd be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't continue try to learn from them. It's a fun social outlet for us, too. We'll have writers on the road with us for a weekend on tour. We get to laugh and visit, and they get to see the show and get an insider perspective of how to approach the writing process with us.

LADY ANTEBELLUM. The multiplatinum country trio will headline the Pepsi Center, 1000 Chopper Circle, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with Darius Rucker and Thompson Square opening. Tickets, $25-$79.50, are available at tickethorse.com

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